Police and prosecutors say Neering jumped on the back of Patrick Chilson, of Denver, while he walked with a friend in the 1300 block of Broadway early on the morning of Aug. 4 and then drew a knife across his neck, causing a 4-inch cut very close to Chilson's carotid artery.

The men had been involved in a confrontation at K's China earlier in the evening.

At a preliminary hearing last fall, defense attorneys said police never found a knife at the scene or on Neering, who was arrested the next day. They suggested that Chilson's friend, who had a knife on him at the time of incident but told police he never took it out, may have accidentally caused the injury when he tried to get Neering off of Chilson.

Boulder County Judge David Archuleta ruled at the preliminary hearing that prosecutors could proceed with the case, but said prosecutors may have difficulty proving the attempted murder charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

Neering entered a not guilty plea this morning in Boulder District Court. He is scheduled to go to trial starting Aug. 13.

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story